Lindsay
My mom and
her then-boyfriend came home with her one May afternoon. They said they found her over by the school,
and decided to bring her home as a birthday present for my younger sister. She was still a young kitten, her gray and
white fur was soft, and she was friendly.
My sister named her right away: “Lindsay”. This was my sister’s 9th birthday. I was 11.
Lindsay was
there through my awkward pre-teen years.
She was there while we (my sister and I ) were both preadolescently
chubby and acne-filled. She witnessed
our chickenpox. She adjusted to a home
that already had two dogs in it.
Then she
was there to greet me when I came home from after-school basketball, track,
soccer, and volleyball practices, curiously sniffing my bags and shoes. She saw good days, bad days, sad days,
stressful days; fad makeup and hairstyles.
She saw everything that had to do with two girls being brought into
their teenage years with essentially a single dad. The mom that initially brought her into our
home was seldom around.
She was a
companion; she came meowing and headbutting whenever she heard tears or
sobs. She purred happily when brushed or
petted.
In the
summer of 2002, she had her only litter.
They were born on July 3. There
were four altogether: Cupcake, Liberty Bell Liberty Bell Liberty Bell
All of them
were always inside/outside cats, so a couple times, Lindsay didn’t come home
for about 2 days, and we freaked out, thinking she was gone forever. I stressed, cried, and prayed that she would
come home. She always did. She had her favorite playing spot across the
street in the neighbor’s hedge.
I took my
anger out on Lindsay once. I think it
was high school, and I was crying and she wouldn’t leave me alone, so I threw
her onto my bed.
When I left
for college, it was hard to leave her, and the two dogs, who were also both
around at the time. But, every time I
came home to visit, Lindsay was there to cuddle.
Lindsay
stayed at my mom’s house the whole 4 years that my sister went away to college
as well. My mom never took very good
care of her (this was after Dad died).
She said her fur flew everywhere, so she kept her mostly outdoors and in
the garage. Her fur got matted. Still, she never ran away. She was always loyal. My sister finally got smart and moved her to Tucson
Lindsay is
still alive as of today, August
14, 2013 . However, she has
had a few vet visits lately, due mostly to my prodding my sister to get her in
for a wellness check. I have a cat of my
own now, and encourage my sister to be a responsible pet parent since this is
the first time she has had Lindsay on her own.
The vet was concerned about Lindsay’s overall health. She had mites in her ears; some of her teeth
were questionable and look like they’re on their way out. She also found an abnormal amount of fluid in
her stomach, and told my sister further tests would be needed.
Now the vet
is worried that Lindsay has cancer.
Lindsay will have an ultrasound tomorrow to determine what’s next.
My sister
just had her 23rd birthday.
That means she’s had Lindsay for 14 years. I wish we had kept her healthier, like more
routine vet visits. She never went to the
vet for wellness checks ever, and hasn’t even had vaccination boosters for like
10 years. But we were kids. Our parents were supposed to take care of us
and our pets.
They
didn’t. So now, we do the best we can to
continue to care for ourselves and our animals, making up the ground that was
lost.
Lindsay
wasn’t our first cat, but in a way she was.
(We had Mota and Zeeper before them; I was 9 ish and Sister was 7 ish;
Mota had a litter that all died at birth/shortly after/went missing; Zeeper
disappeared. It was a family legend that
certain neighbors to the back stole all of our cats over the years. We’ll never know)
She’s been
such a good cat. I hope she feels as
though she’s had a good life.
(Lindsay, 12/21/2012)